Scotjos 2022 Swedish Trip – Developing Junior Talent

Every two years the Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (Scotjos) organise a 2 week trip to Scandanavia to provide the juniors with the opportunity to experience different terrains and compete outside the UK.

For obvious reasons this has not happened for a couple of years but this summer the squad have headed off to Sweden.

Staying in Swedish orienteering club huts they have, with the help of the coaches and volunteers who have travelled with them, competed in the Eskistuna 3 Days competition and Hallands 3 Days, done some training, learnt a few life skills (dish washing, laundry and barbecuing to name but a few) before they return home.

This experience together with the coaching weekends held throughout the year help those orienteers from 14 to 18 years old who have shown talent and commitment to improve their performance as well as build lifelong friendships.

Scotjos has helped develop world class orienteers – you will have seen Grace Malloy competing in the  World Orienteering Championships in Denmark this year and there were a few familiar Scotjos faces competing at the European Youth Orienteering Championships and Junior World Orienteering Championships in Hungary and Portugal this year. Others have been selected this year for Junior European Cup in Germany later this year.

More information about junior orienteering can be found at Scotjos info link together with the selection criteria for Scotjos and any of the Scottish Junior team competitions.

Many thanks go to the Scotjos team (Jon Musgrave and Judy Bell) and the volunteers (Mikey Adams, Chloe Cracknell, Mairi Eades, Lizzie Stansfield (Week 2), James Laird (Week 2), Jane Chisholm, Alison Matheson and Morag McLuckie) without whom the juniors would not have had the opportunity.